Employees of the Hostess bakery in Biddeford ignored threats from the company Thursday evening that if enough workers hadn’t returned to work by 5 p.m. it would liquidate the business.

Striking workers who belong to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union have affected two-thirds of the company’s 36 plants, according to The Wall Street Journal.

John Jordan, the bakery union’s local business agent in Biddeford, released the following statement on Thursday evening:

”The hard working men and women here in Biddeford will continue our fight for justice. We are prepared to stay on the picket line as long as it takes to achieve a fair deal.

“It is mismanagement that put Hostess in a bad place, not the workers. These workers have already taken significant pay cuts. We are not willing to give up even more to line the pockets of the Wall Street investors who are driving the company into the ground. Corporate greed is the problem here. We are standing up for our jobs, our families, and families everywhere who are facing the same struggle.

“Justice, dignity and respect just are not there. When they are, we will come back. We are ready to work for a company that wants to make bread and is willing to pay us a fair wage for doing so.”

BDN’s Troy Bennett visited the striking workers in Biddeford on Wednesday and produced this video.